Just a Nice Day . . .

Except that it's pretty chilly this morning. Somebody forgot to close the two windows that are open on this floor and downstairs, so when I regained full consciousness I pretty cold even though i'd managed to steal B's heat. Of course, he enjoyed the coolness. Men ...

I've finally managed to finish the i-cord. Near the end, I ran out of the blue yarn. I tried to stretch it out by taking some of the extra yardage from the loose ends and wet-grafting these on. I could have kept on doing this to make it stretch out even longer, but I got tired of wet-grafting (or, putting the yarn in my mouth to wetten it, then rubbing it together . . . yuck). Fortunately, I had a ball of the navy yarn that I'd bought for my first attempt. Yes, the color is slightly different when you examine it under the OTT light, but nobody is really going to notice it. And I'm going to be making another version of this, in any case; for that one I will be sure to get enough yarn for all colors.

We had a great weekend - a friend of mine from the past, K, came up to visit for the weekend as she had a special event to go to and needed an escort, so she asked our friend G to be her escort. Saturday was cookout time at G's place and I made two different kind of leg of lamb dishes. One was cooked in the oven for about 6 hours at 250 degrees, resting on a bed of onion and bay leaves, water and brandy; the lamb itself was rubbed with a blend of olive oil, garlic, rosemary (fresh from my garden), some salt and pepper). The other leg (boneless) was cooked at a high temperature, having been slathered with a blend of dijon mustard, olive oil, rosemary, oregano, and summer savory along with some salt and pepper. Yummy . . . I just love lamb!

And then yesterday we went over to my sister's home for this baby sign class. it was really interesting . . . Judi Rockhill, a professional sign language interpreter, set up her own business called Signing Family to teach parents how to sign to their children as a way to reduce tantrums and frustrations. She finds that it works really well (of course, deaf families have known this all along). Some of you have probably heard about the "baby sign" craze, where you make up signs to use with babies. However, these signs may not always be the same signs that deaf people.

Her philosophy is to actually use signs that deaf people use, so that babies learn something useful that will serve them well in the future should they encounter their deaf peers, and grown-ups (especially since this area has one of the largest population of deaf people). I can't recommend her enough and encourage you all to check her out, not only to teach your babies, but also if you are the leader of a Girl Scout troop, or homeschooling children, or whatever.